Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

So I thought I'd check in and let you all know how myself, DH and Arnold are doing.

Things started off great and then Arnold decided to CHEW! And chew my boy does...

First it was the newspaper he's supposed to do his business on. Ok, I can handle that but then he started EATING the newspaper! Oh no...

But newspaper was just the tip of the iceberg... Today when I came home for lunch I found a chunk of our linoleum tile MISSING!!! Yes, my friends, Arnold ate a small chunk of floor. I was honestly besides myself. I've tried to find anything online about this but to no avail. Luckily he's going to the vet on Saturday.

I would LOVE to say that was the end of our excitement, but alas, it was not. My poor boy hurt his paw today. Thankfully, my DH took a half day today so he was home. Now for a little background...

Long story short, I'm convinced we have ghosts in our house. I know I sound crazy but I'm telling you, things have happened here that just CANNOT be explained like TVs turning on after I've turned them off, blinds swaying even though it's not windy out and the windows are shut PLUS the curtains aren't moving. So having said that, here's my story...

I'd noticed Arnold had significantly decreased the amount of food he was eating the last few meals I'd put down for him. I'd say this has been going on for the last 2 days. He would barely touch his food. So yesterday morning I decided to feed him from my hand and sure enough he gobbled it right up so I though maybe he doesn't like the bowl. Well, the same thing happens this morning and again at lunch time today, so when my DH got home I told him that Arnold doesn't seem to like eating from his bowl and I can't figure out why. He somewhat dismissed it but I showed him how he ate from my hand and that whole bit. Whatever. So fast forward about 2 hours later, DH calls to say Arnold got hurt. He says to me, "Jenn, I don't know what happened but SOMETHING spooked the bejesus out of him." Apparently he was standing near his bowls just looking at them, when for whatever reason, he started barking and jumped backwards. Well, the way he jumped he landed goofy footed and it caused him to crash into his crate and hurt his paw. He was limping around so initally my DH was gonna take him to the vet but decided against it. Instead he picked Arnie up, rubbed his little paw and kept him on the couch with him. He then emptied the bowls and moved them across the room. Can I just tell you guys, Arnold will NOT go over to where the bowls used to be?? If you ask me, I think he's seeing something we can't see.

So, the nut that I am... When I got home from work, I yelled in the kitchen at the ghosts to leave my baby alone! DH was like, what the HELL are you doing??? But I just felt like I had to do something! On the bright side, his paw seems to be much better. He was running on it and even jumped up to greet me when I came home today, so I think he just bruised it.

Now you would think that would be enough for one day, but NOOOOOO...

Lastly tonight. DH and I had to go out for a couple of hours, well, when we got home we found that he chewed off the weather stripping of the back door!!!! OMG I could NOT believe it!!! Not only had my little 9 week old puppy eat newspaper, my FLOOR he now chewed on my BACK DOOR!!!!

Please, someone tell me he will eventually grow out of this!!!

What a day...

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

He will grow out of it...but it takes a while.
Make sure you guys play with him a lot, puppies chew out of boredom more than anything.

And to make you feel better, Misty has eaten:
A Wooden Trunk
A Coffee Table
A Bookshelf
Numerous Shoes
Books
Dan's Wallet
The Wall
and of course, the infamous Gorilla Glue experience.

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

Oh, and as far as the ghosts...it's proven that animals can sense spirits much more strongly than humans, so my guess is that Arnold definitely saw something.

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

Thank you Gerty...

Thank you for reading ALL of that and thank you for responding.

I truly believe he saw something and it freightened him. What bothers me is that this is the room we keep him in when we're not home and now I feel bad.

I just hope it doesn't happen again.

Oh and what's the gorilla glue incident? I'm not sure I was around for that.

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

Ahh.....I didn't think it would start so soon for you! I told you about my doggies just recently chewing the cabinets, at 1.5 and 2.5 years old! At least your boy has an excuse, as he is teething!

So do they grow out of it? Could be well over a year or more that they "stop" doing these things. He will do a lot of damage if you don't start crating him or penning him. He will find ways to eat anything and everything he can grab his mouth onto.

As for the food issue with the bowl, my dog did this too. Would eat from our hands but not the bowl. Just liked the special attention! And my dogs have heard noises that we could never hear and get spooked at things too, that we can't figure out.

Welcome to puppymommahood.

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

is he crate trained by any chance? don't let him out of your site ever. even for a minute. that way you can see what he's doing and make sure he doesn't chew it. you could also buy "bitter end" from petsmart. spray it on your valuables and he wont chew it. just make sure he's crate trained. it'll be for the best. i promise

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

Try keeping music on for him when you leave. Also can you block him into a section of the house when you leave? IT does get better. But I have no experience with big dogs just little ones!! Hang in there!!

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

Raising a puppy isn't easy, I know. Get some bitter apple spray and spray it on things that she chews that she isn't supposed to.
Here are some of Katie's puppy adventures:
1. She ate molding and chewed holes in the walls
2. I planted a small tree in the yard and I found her at the back door eating the tree (she dug it up)
3. After painting the finished basement I left the paint trays downstairs and went upstairs to take a break. I went back downstairs to find that she had jumped into the paint tray and ran all around the dark green carpet. Thank God for steam vacs.
4. She peed on a carpet that had been installed 2 hours earlier, right in front of us.
5. Pooped in the hallway and I stepped in it.
6. Peed on me while laying in bed.

The list goes on. She was a little over a year before she grew out of this. Now she is a good girl but she occasionally eats tissues and digs holes.

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

The Gorilla Glue Incident!

She's fine now...but it was a frightening week.

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

We all have stories!
He should grow out of some of those habits.
Just make sure he has something around that he's allowed to chew on.
My dog used to chew everything when he was teething.
The feet of our kitchen table look horrible!
Now that he has all his adult teeth, he doesn't chew so much , but he still would chew the table legs. we got a big rib bone (from petco) and put it right by the table so instead of going for the leg, he would go for the bone. It works great so far.

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

Omg Jen, welcome to Puppy Parenthood!! Now you know why they're so cute, to make up for this stuff!!!

Tile

Paw

Ghosts

Arnie

It does get better, but yes he will chew on anything and everything. Def pick up some bitter apple spray, this stuff works wonders!! And I would crate him while you're out of the house, at least until he learns to trust that you'll be coming back. Puppies sometimes chew out of anxiety, it's like us biting our fingernails and other bad habits.

Ok so let's see, Kasey has chewed up/eaten:
The futon cushion (2x I think)
The comfortor on our bed
Tissues and paper from the garbage
Her nylon leash
Her bed (it looked like it snowed in the kitchen)
The corner of one of our wooden chairs
One of Kevin's sweatshirts
I woke up one morning and found one of my slippers wet
Kevin came out of the shower one day and found my bear all wet
One of Chel's stuffed animals mysteriously moved from her room to the office...and his pants were off
And most recently, she ate a small flower that Chel had made for me out of clay

Again I say, welcome to Puppy Parenthood!!

Message edited 2/8/2008 2:58:09 PM.

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

Burn some white sage to get rid of the ghosts

Loki was the worst chewer. He chewed the windowsills, my bed, the comforter, the vanity to my sink, the saddle in between the kitchen and hallway, the carpet in the parlour, a pot to my plant, a brick, my antique diningroom table, and, I am not even kidding, he chewed his way out of his metal crate. Nevermind the plethora of random knick-knacks.

It gets better, and I found that giving him a kong toy stuffed with a treat, a knotted rope toy and a chew tire helped during this phase.

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

Message edited 11/17/2011 3:10:17 PM.

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

I hate to break it to you, Jennie, but he may not grow out of the chewing phase.

Daisy hasn't and it's gotten worse as she has her adult teeth in.

Just spend $$ and get a lot of chew toys for Arnold. Nyloabones, kongs, ropes, squeeker toys, etc and make sure he knows what is acceptable to chew on by saying "good boy" when he chews on his toys and not your kitchen floor.

Also, buy the apple bitter spray and spray that on ANYTHING he chews on that he shouldn't and if you catch him chewing on something he shouldn't, yell no and spray it around his snout once and he'll get th picture.

Daisy has learned to only chew on her toys now - thank god! But we still have to replace her toys and a periodic harness every two weeks or so from her chewing habits, but we'd rathere have that happen than replace furniture/floors.

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

First of all your poor baby with the food bowls. I really believe they see things we can't. Poor baby. That's actually scary.

As far as eating things, yes our rottie does the same thing. He eats paper and boxes (he's our furry shredder). He ate the tile in the bedroom & kitchen and the molding on the wall! And that's only the begining. He loves water bottles and tries to seal them all. He will chew it till the cap comes off, discard the cap, he will chew the plastic ring off and discard that and then chew on the bottle!

We have gotten him a ton of chew toys and even plastic bottles and he doenst chew on things he shouldn't. It was a teething thing for our rottie. After that he kinda stopped.

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

Thank you ALL so much for the responses! It's very encouraging to know that we're not alone in this adventure I call "puppy parenthood"!

To answer some questions, I did crate him the following day and it went very well. He didn't "go" in it and to boot, I was able to take him out and he did his business there instead! It was so nice to not have to clean up anything!!! As for the chewing thing we haven't run into any problems since. We bought him a few more nylabones and he's been working on them one by one. He finished one whole 5" bone in about 20 or so minutes!!! But like I said, since then he hasn't gone for anything else!

Again, thank you all for the responses and advice, it's greatly appreciated!!

Message edited 2/12/2008 12:25:19 AM.

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

Your story was a great read! It gives me an idea what I am headed for! Can't wait to hear more of your stories.

This is my 3rd day being a mommy to my furbaby and I am always keeping an eye on him. He does love playing with the water bottles. He loves the leaves from the trees

I loved it when I read about your newspaper. We are crating our new puppy and he is very good about going outside but a couple of times he did his business inside the house. DH came home and told me that he bought wee wee pads ( I didnt want them) and sure enough, my puppy is sleeping on it and playing with it and running around the house with it. It was so comical.

We have the bitter apple and it has helped with wires and furniture.

Good Luck MOMMY!

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

He will grow out of it, anytime you catch him eating something or going after something stick a toy in his mouth. My PB had a BAD chewing problem...shoes, chairs, boxes...anything she could get her mouth on. We would constantly stuff a toy in her mouth and she learned to chew on that. It will help later on in life too when the pup gets excited that people are over-instead of jumping on them she will grab her toy. It helps-maybe it will help you with the chewing problem. You have to constantly stick the toy in his mouth, if he drops it and goes to get something else-pick up the toy and stick it back in his mouth-VERY annoying but she got out of the habit quick. Also make sure the toys dont have the styrofoam beads in them-just the stuffing.

As far as the ghosts-I swear we have a ghost or two in out apartment, the fan in out kitchen will go on by itself, it sounds like someone is walking up our stairs (this one spooks the hell out of me) and the dog will bark as if someone is coming in. She will also play with these "supposed" ghost. She will run around and play like we do with her except we wont be playing with her...who knows!

Message edited 2/12/2008 12:03:29 AM.

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

What is a nylor bone?
I have a pit and I would stay away from the real bones-marrow bones-like the ones that are hollow in the middle-they can chip and crack their teeth-if i remember correctly he is part pit they dont know their own strength-all of our friends have pits and each one of them has cracked a tooth on those bones. Try and give him the raw hide-that at least will bend and flex with their chewing-but Ive never heard of a nylor bone

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

Nylabone is the brand. They're like flavored raw hide bones. They get soft and chewy when he chews on them so I don't think he will chip a tooth, but thanks for the heads up regarding the other kind of bone. I will be sure to steer clear of them!

As for the chewing... I do give him a bone or toy in replacement of what he's chewing that he's not supposed to be chewing. I've been very consistent with that so as to teach him what he should be chewing and what he shouldn't be chewing.

Again, thank you for the advice, it's without a doubt appreciated!

Oh and yes, you are right, Arnie is part Pit!!

Re: Adventures in Puppy Parenthood...

Posted by Jennie0898

Nylabone is the brand. They're like flavored raw hide bones. They get soft and chewy when he chews on them so I don't think he will chip a tooth, but thanks for the heads up regarding the other kind of bone. I will be sure to steer clear of them!

As for the chewing... I do give him a bone or toy in replacement of what he's chewing that he's not supposed to be chewing. I've been very consistent with that so as to teach him what he should be chewing and what he shouldn't be chewing.

Again, thank you for the advice, it's without a doubt appreciated!

Oh and yes, you are right, Arnie is part Pit!!

Message edited 2/12/2008 2:43:20 AM.